More than 20,000 people with allotment letters living in the disputed South Ngariama ranch in Mwea will not be evicted, Kirinyaga MCAs have said.
Speaking on Monday in Kerugoya town, the ward reps termed allotment letters issued by the defunct Kirinyaga County Council legally binding.
They will eventually be issued with title deeds, majority leader Muriithi Kibinga said.
“The process is at a promising stage, where allottees are required to produce their legit documents to prove ownership of their land to the land officials carrying out the adjudication exercise,” he said.
Kibinga exuded confidence that the remaining process will run smoothly and come to a fruitful conclusion.
He called on locals to exercise patience and cooperate with the relevant officials undertaking the process.
Following verification of allotment letters last year by the county government, Kibinga said the assembly will ensure the national government successfully works with Governor Anne Waiguru's administration in land adjudication.
Kibinga assured that once the process is done, the titling process will commence to put to rest the land dispute that has protracted since 2009, and which has led to bloodshed and loss of lives.
Area MCA Charles Nyaga said the county assembly is determined to oversee a successful process.
He called on all locals involved to ignore claims the assembly is planning to abort the exercise, saying such accusations need to be dismissed with the contempt they deserve.
“I have heard claims that the Assembly is non-committal to ensuring that locals get their title deeds within the shortest time possible,” he said.
"That is far from the truth. We are following the process closely to see to it that all deserving cases are addressed appropriately and all genuine owners settled."
He cautioned the residents not to fall prey to conmen who are going round spreading false hoods about an imminent eviction so as to collect money from unsuspecting residents.
He said they will be holding meetings so as to educate residents about the issue.
Kiini MCA Geoffrey Gakuru urged locals not to listen to lies and only do what they have been guided by the lead stakeholders to do.
“Land adjudication is not being carried out so that people can be evicted from their lands,” he said.
"On the contrary, what locals are supposed to do during the process is to present to the land officials their requisite documents, which were issued to them by the defunct County Council, in order to show that they are the legal owners of those lands."
He exuded confidence that the government is up to task of undertaking the process and resolving the issue once and for all.
The MCAs assured Kirinyaga ECDE teachers that the county government would this month reinstate their salaries under the new scheme of service.
This following a court directive that set aside the SRC plan to slash the nursery school teachers’ salaries by 50 per cent .
At the beginning of her second term, Governor Ann Waiguru's administration issued the ECDE teachers with permanent and pensionable letters, whose implementation would later be halted by the SRC directive.
However, majority leader Muriithi Kibinga assured the teachers their salaries would be reinstated following the court’s directive.
He also assured them that the county would compensate for the months the teachers were not paid as per their new terms over the SRC directive.
